Tales of Discovery
by Darth Frodo
Summary: A compendium of revelation oneshots, each one detailing the revelation of Danny's secret to some other important character. New: Jack's a little more perceptive than everyone gives him credit for...including Danny... DP ANGST FIC!
1. Deadly Discoveries

A/N: Alright, I know the next update you were expecting from me was the next chapter of TR (which is coming, I promise!), least of all a new story, but oh well. This actually happened because I was taking a break from writing a long stretch of TR and this idea popped into my head and wouldn't let me write TR until I got it out, so as an obedient servant I listened to my muse and turned this out.

I've been meaning to do this series of one-shots for a long time, since I'm such a sucker for revelation stories (if you haven't noticed by now). So, what better way than to get all my little revelation ideas out of the way with this, a compendium for them? And boy do I have some fun ones, involving Lancer, Dash, Maddie, just about everyone frankly. My goal is to do one for every character in the series XD

So, I bring you this, the first in hopefully many tales of discovery.

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**Tales of Discovery**

**Deadly Discoveries**

He didn't know what made him do it, what mysterious forces drove him, coerced him, convinced him, but nonetheless, he had done it. He had entered the portal.

He of course wore protective wear, he wasn't that foolish, his white and black hazmat suit covering over most of his skin as he stepped into the hole in the wall created by the portal. His parents had been working on it for months, had gone through so much trouble, had so many meetings with the government and got so many grants to do this experiment, to create this portal to the mystical Ghost Zone that they adamantly insisted existed, only to have it fail spectacularly. A brief crackle of electricity across the metallic frame and that was all it had done.

And so now he found himself inside the troubled portal, trying to figure out what went wrong, all the while wondering exactly why he wanted to, why the elusive answer bothered him so.

He didn't have long to ponder it though as he felt his foot catch on a stray cord, sending him pitching towards the wall of the portal. He thankfully caught himself, pushing a button in the process. Lights immediately turned on inside the portal as he lifted his shaking hand away from the button, reading the two-lettered word that spelled his doom. "ON".

His eyes widened as he turned, trying to dash out of the portal before he was caught inside it, but too late. Green energy sparked along the wall before converging into the center, converging onto him.

He shrieked out in pain as the electric pulses shot through his body, frying his insides, liquefying his body, melting it into a single, goopy entity. It was hard to breathe, feeling like the liquid was in his lungs, and his head and chest ached as he felt his previously rapid heartbeat slow almost to a stop, his brain begging for oxygen as he felt like he was dying.

Jack and Maddie heard the wailing cry of pain, it was hard not to seeing as how it echoed through the house, and rushed down to the basement in time to see a glowing figure crawling meekly out of the now operating ghost portal, looking like each movement, each stab at getting further from the portal was an agonizing feat. They quickly recognized the silhouette of the figure as that of a teenage boy, one horrific thought echoing through their heads. _Danny_.

They rushed down to him as he collapsed onto the floor, his black jumpsuit clad body smoking in the wake of the electric charges that had shot through him.

"Danny! Oh my God Danny!" Maddie cried, dropping to her knees next to him as Jack followed suit. She turned him over onto her lap, gasping at the sight that beheld her.

It was her son, his facial features and build dictating as much, but his hair…it was no longer the inky black she had spent so many days when he was younger brushing but was now an eerie snow white. His face was devoid of color and his body it…it just seemed to _glow_ with an unnatural sheen.

Upon hearing his name he opened his eyes weakly, the expression on his face pained as his glowing, vivid green eyes started tearing, the tears even seeming to produce their own small aura of light. "M-Mommy? D-Daddy?" he choked, his voice carrying a resonating echo.

"Oh my boy! My baby boy! What happened?" she asked, tears pooling in her own eyes as well, her brain shoving aside the possible answer it was hastily ready to supply. That wasn't the answer. It couldn't be. She didn't want it to be…

"Th-the p-portal," he stammered, face radiating pain as it hurt to move, to talk even, his whole body on fire as he shivered in growing cold. "I w-went in and it t-turned on and I c-couldn't es-escape."

A portal accident? Oh God, it was as she feared. She looked up at her husband, the alarm in his eyes confirming her fears. For they had had another friend subjected to the pain of getting into a portal accident in college: Vlad Masters. He had been their friend since childhood, following each other to college and working on their first ghost experiments together, the most notable of which being the first ghost portal. It was a far more compact version, made to accommodate a college grant's budget and thus less impressive and requiring less of an electrical charge to power it, but it was still a breakthrough nonetheless, or at least it would have been if it actually had worked.

There was an accident, some error in the calculations, and the portal didn't work as it should have. It still activated and turned on, but instead of staying within the confines of the border it shot out, hitting their friend full in the face before destabilizing and disappearing. The accident ruined him, giving him a severe case of what was coined "ecto-acne" and he was confined in hospital quarantine for twenty long years.

But this time…this time was different, because this portal was different. This one was far more massive and required far more energy than the one they created in college ever could. And this one…this one had worked. It didn't destabilize after attacking a loved one; it remained and it worked, and this point, along with the amount of energy required to power it, both spelled doom for their poor son lying on the floor between them. For while Vlad's accident might have left him in painful quarantine for years on end, this one…this one killed their son.

There was no other explanation for it. He was clearly a ghost as much as they hated to admit it. The frigid, pale skin, the glowing aura, the vivid ectoplasm green eyes…all clear indications that he was a ghost. Add the facts that his chest wasn't moving to even supply him pained breaths and that not even the faintest inclination of a heartbeat could be heard in his chest and they knew it was true. Their son was dead.

Tears started pouring from the concerned parents' eyes as they beheld the ghost of their fourteen-year-old son. It was all they could do to stop from bawling outright, only restraining the cries of sadness by thinking about their son and what was best for him, all the while trying to decide how to break the news of his death to him best.

But while Danny wasn't generally known for his perceptiveness, he did notice the constant trails of tears streaming from their eyes, the occasional sniffle as they tried to keep it all contained inside. He felt worry rise up within him to join the pain, only a couple scenarios flashing through his head as to why they'd cry so much after hearing about the accident, and none of them good.

"M-Mom? D-Dad? What…what's wrong?" he asked, voice colored with fear, his green eyes shining with more of the strange glowing tears.

"N-nothing's wrong son," Jack told him in a blatant lie. They were still unsure on how to break the news. He didn't imagine finding out you were dead to be a pleasant experience.

"P-please," he begged. He knew something was wrong, very wrong. He knew he wasn't requiring any breath, knew the constant thrumming of his heart within his chest was no longer there, and yet, he was still aware and conscious, and that was most assuredly not a good sign.

"S-sweetie you're…y-you're a…a ghost," Maddie answered, choking back sobs to tell him what she sadly knew was the truth.

"I-I'm a…I'm a-a what?" he asked, his voice shaky as his eyes widened in fear, his skin starting a contest with his hair to see which could become more white.

"A…a gh-ghost," she repeated, voice catching as she tried to stop her cries.

"A gh-ghost? A-a ghost?" he asked in disbelief, not wanting to believe what his parents had said. "N-no. I-I can't…I c-can't be. I'd h-have to be…t-to be…"

Dead. The word echoed through his head, resounding along with all his previous fears over what his lack of vital signs indicated. He was…he was dead.

The accident it had…it had killed him. And now…now he was dead. At the young, early age of fourteen he had died. He would never get to graduate, never get to experience college, never get a girlfriend and get married, never get to have kids and a family, never get to have a job, astronaut or otherwise, never get to live…

He shook his head, still having trouble grasping the severity of what had happened. "N-no, no I don't…I don't w-want to be d-dead!" he cried, tears pouring from his eyes as he finally said it aloud. "I'm n-not r-ready to be d-dead!"

Maddie finally broke, lifting her son off her lap and drawing him into a close hug, running a hand through his soft, white hair, letting him bawl into her shoulder as she cried for her son's death.

And bawl he did, clinging to her jumpsuit needily as he soaked it with his tears. He wasn't ready. He wanted to live. He wanted to be able to experience life, to experience all the ups and even the downs. He wanted to grow up and have a family, wanted to experience dating or even kissing. There was so much he hadn't done, so much he was leaving unfulfilled, so much he would never be able to do.

He felt his father wrap around him on the other side, crying softly as well which struck another cord within him as to the severity and reality of the experience. His father hardly ever cried, and only did when something really bad had happened, something he could deal with through a joke, his usual method of dealing. But if he cried…if he cried that meant he couldn't deal using his choice method, meant that he couldn't joke his way out of it, because it was far too serious and despairing…

"Danny it-it'll…it'll be okay," his mother comforted, finally calming herself out of her cries enough to try and instill some comforting words into her inconsolable son.

"H-how can you s-say that?" he asked through the wailing cries. "I'm d-dead!"

"But you're…you're still here. You're s-still a ghost and you…you can still s-spend time with us and th-those you-you love. Y-you're at least still h-here."

"But I…I still can't g-grow up and h-have a-a l-life. I'm just…s-stuck here."

"Better stuck here than not at all," Jack pointed out, echoing the thoughts of both him and his wife.

"But I…I'm s-still a…a ghost and you…you h-hate ghosts," he replied sadly. His parents had been ghost hunters as long as they had been ghost researchers and they firmly believed them all to be evil and menacing and deserved to stay in the Ghost Zone where they belonged and to never break the human plane. So it took away the benefit of still being here to spend time with his family if they hated what he had become and didn't even want him here with them in the first place.

"Oh sweetie no!" Maddie comforted, wrapping her arms around his icy body tighter. "Don't even think that! We love you sweetie, no matter what, we love you. We don't care if you're a ghost, we're just glad that you're still here with us! We can still hug and love and spend time with you, and that's all that matters! Don't ever think that we hate you."

"Your mom's right son, we'll always love you no matter what. Ghost or no, you're still our son and we still love you."

More glowing tears fell from his eyes, following the familiar tracks down his face as he curled into their hugs, forgetting about the unending pain and cold for a moment as he immersed himself in their love. They still loved him, despite the fact that he was a ghost, they still loved him. They didn't mind and they didn't care and they were there for him, ready to help him through the after effects of his death. He knew it wasn't going to be pleasant, knew it was going to be hard on a lot of people, including himself, but they were willing to help him through it, and that meant the world to him.

As he cuddled into their loving touches he felt a strange pooling of cold at his waist and then a slight tingle as glowing blue rings of light formed around him. His parents pulled away, looking in awe at the sight as the rings separated and moved, gliding gracefully across his body. Danny choked and sputtered as he bent over on his hands and knees, taking a wet, rattled breath as white t-shirt and blue jean pants peeked out from between the rings as they made their way across his chest. His skin started regaining some color, his hair returning to its normal black as the rings finished their path, disappearing once they passed over the last strand of his hair.

Danny remained crouched over, taking in deep breaths, his eyes shut in pain as his heart thrummed to a steady beat. What had…what had just happened? He was breathing and his heart was beating, he knew that for a fact, the sensation of the two vital organs starting up causing him great pain and discomfort. But…wasn't he dead? Hadn't he just spent the past few minutes trying to convince himself and get over the initial shock? Then how…how was he requiring these vital processes?

Jack and Maddie simply stared, no longer looking at a ghost of their son, but at their son, exactly the way he had looked that afternoon when the initial activation of the portal had failed. He was breathing, they knew he was, hearing his gasping and pained breaths. Maddie took him, setting him in her lap to soothe his pain, his body still cold but not icy, his chest heaving and thrumming in her arms. "Sweetie…sweetie what happened?"

"I don't…I don't know," he panted, normal tears now flowing out of his once again blue eyes. "I can…I can b-breath a-again."

"But how?" Jack asked, running his hand through Danny's hair comfortingly.

"I don't…I don't kn-know," he answered truthfully, his panicked breathing finally calming as the pain of the transformation subsided.

"You…you know what this means sweetie? This means you're alive!" Maddie told him, eyes sparkling happily. "You're alive!"

"But…but how? I…I th-thought I was d-dead."

"Well we thought so too but obviously you aren't. Ghosts don't breathe or have a heartbeat Danny, and you clearly have both."

"But I…I d-didn't before."

"It's weird. It's like you're a ghost and a human at the same time. Some sort of half breed," Jack offered.

"It could have been from the portal," Maddie suggested. "The ectoplasmic energy could have infused into you and created ectoplasm within you, making you some sort of half-ghost."

"S-so I'm…I'm n-not dead?"

"No sweetie, you're not dead," she smiled, brushing his hair from his face. "You're not dead."

His blue eyes filled with tears as he launched himself at his mother, throwing his arms around her as he cried with joy, feeling his dad wrap around him from behind. He was alive. He was alive! He wasn't dead. His life wasn't over. He was alive and he once again had a life laid out in front of him. He could once again go back to school, he could finish and graduate, get a degree and a job, grow up and get married, have kids, grow old and then finally, once he had done everything he wanted to in life, then he could die.

Sure he was still a ghost and still had strange ghostly abilities, but that didn't matter to him. He was alive and now, now he had a wonderful and lively outlook on life stretching ahead of him. He could dream of a future and actually have a chance to live it, ghost powers or no. He was still alive and he was still surrounded by his parents' love and that was all he needed.

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A/N: So, I hope it wasn't too bad TT Please be gentle, this is my first ever one-shot and I'm usually used to being a lot more verbose... 


	2. If Only

A/N: Sad that I almost forgot how to do this...V.V Anywho, here's my submission for the International DP Day of Angst! What's the International DP Day of Angst? Well I'm glad you asked. It's a day for all us angst-inclined authors to flood the submission page with angsty one-shots to remind everyone of the power of the angst. A lot of us have noticed how there's not much on here anymore and that it's seemed to fade away, so we're here to not only remind everyone that we're still here and it's still a viable and lucrative genre, but to get all the angst writers' rears in gear (including mine...) to get those angst juices flowing again and actually put something up.

Speaking of putting something up...is everyone shocked I'm actually submitting something? I know I'd be...V.V Ah the wonders that treating this as a homework assignment will do for getting something written...I need to remember that trick from now on...

Anywho, I hope you all enjoy! It's a little short (okay really short) and it's not uber-angst like I usually do, but it's still angsty and good and actually from a different perspective than I normally write...than I think most people usually write... Just read and you'll see.

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**If Only**

"_If only you could know the things I long to say.  
__If only I could tell you what I wish I could convey.__  
It's in my ev'ry glance.  
My heart's an open book.  
You'd see it all at once if only you would look."_  
"If Only", Little Mermaid on Broadway

It was certainly a magnificent sight, one only seen by the select few that happened to fly over it low enough to see its grandeur. Snow-capped mountains towered over the lush countryside and crystalline creeks snaked through the trees and bushes, providing clear, cool water for the various wildlife roaming below. Even from the helicopter with the overpowering noise and metallic frame the scene was still impressive and breathtaking. It was the perfect scene to share with someone you loved, with some significant other, and Jack Fenton was doing just that.

"Ain't it a beaut Danny?" he asked his passenger with a wide grin. "Nothing like savin' the day with your old man, eh?"

"Affirmative, Father."

"Yeah…such a nice thing to share…" he sighed, only the slightest twitch faltering the usual grin present on his face. He kept his attention on the flight path ahead of him, occasionally looking at his wife's helicopter beside him to make sure he wasn't flying too close. Sometimes he'd look behind him, making sure that the long metal cable he was trailing across the globe was still falling and spreading itself across the gorgeous plains below not to ruin its beauty but to save it from the impending disaster on their world.

"I'm really glad you're here, spending time with me, especially with everything going on," he finally spoke up again. "I know you've got a lot of things you should be doing, 'specially with the end of the world coming about and all, but it does a father good to know that he can share some of his final moments with his only son," he smiled, tears glittering his eyes.

"Affirmative, Father."

Silence descended upon the cabin once again, the plains melding into mountain ranges covered in white. "You know" he spoke again, voice strangely quiet "we never really have time to do this kind of stuff anymore. You're always off with your friends or at school or just…doing other stuff. Kinda sad that it takes the end of the world to finally get some one-on-one time with you," he sighed. "Is it just some usual teenage thing where you don't want to spend time with your old man anymore or is it…is there something else?"

He took the silence as a confirmation so he continued on.

"So it is something else isn't it? Then what is it? You can tell me you know. I'm not going to get mad or anything. Is it something I did? Because if it is I can fix it; I promise."

He bit his lip, waiting in earnest for an answer, but it was an answer he knew would never come. His son wouldn't own up to it and he knew that, but that didn't mean he didn't hope it would happen…

"Come on Danny. You gotta tell me. If it's something I'm doing wrong you gotta let me know so I can fix it. Is it all the ghost stuff? 'Cause if it is I can stop. I can tone it down. I know you don't think I can, but I'll do it. Just please tell me," he practically pleaded.

He waited for an answer, waited for a long time but still nothing came. No hint as to what was wrong, no advice for how to fix their separation, no acknowledgement he was even talking. He still remained silent.

"Come on Danny, what happened to us?" he pleaded. "We used to be so close you and I. I was always the one you came to talk to when things happened. When Dash beat you up because you had a better teddy bear than him I was the one you cried to. When you were afraid you had to stop being friends with Sam because you thought she had cooties I was the one you went to for advice and guidance. And when things started changing well…I was the one you sought an explanation from. So why are we so different now?" he asked with a sigh.

He started off into the distance, the scenery holding no beauty for him anymore. Its snowy landscapes were no longer majestic and grand, but cold and chilly, just like his son sitting beside him.

"It's all because of the accident, isn't it?" he asked quietly, voice barely a whisper. "Everything's been weird since the accident. You've been more skittish, more nervous, more…more distant. What was it about the accident that changed you so much, son?" he prompted, leaving a silence like he expected an answer, even though his heavy heart knew it wasn't going to come.

Finally he was forced to continue on. "Danny…I'll understand. Really I will. I know you don't think I will, but you gotta give me some credit. Of course I'll understand. You're my son for cryin' out loud! No matter what I'll always love you! Please, just tell me," he implored him, tears brimming his eyes, his face looking more pained than it had since the day he thought his wife was leaving him. "You can trust me Danny! Really! Just _please_ tell me!"

His pained cry echoed through the cabin, resonating the pain in Jack Fenton's heart. And yet still his son remained silent. Still he gave no answer to his father's plea. Tears glittered in the saddened father's eyes, trailing deep marks of hurt down his wounded face.

"Danny I know," he whispered quietly. "I know what happened. You think you can hide it from me like you think you can hide a lot of things, but I know. I'm not as clueless as you seem to think I am," he choked, casting a sideways glance at the passenger's seat before fixing his eyes ahead once again. "I've known it for awhile. Figured it out you might say. It just happened one night when I heard you come in late, trying to be all quiet. It just…it all just kinda fell into place. I just saw it all before me and I knew; I just knew. But listen to me: I don't care. I don't care!" he cried out, voice choking on his emotion. "I know you're Danny Phantom and yet here I am, still talking to you, not pulling any weapons out on you or anything because I know it's you! You don't have to hide it from me anymore! You don't have to be afraid or nervous or anything anymore! I already know and yet here I am, saving the world by your side!

"I know you've been afraid that I'd hurt you or hate you or hunt you or any number of things and I know I haven't really made it easy to think otherwise but I'm still right here! I'm still here!"

He stopped, biting his lip before continuing on, voice more controlled. "What I'm trying to say son is that you don't have to be afraid anymore. You don't. I know it's you and I accept that. I'm not going to pull an ecto-gun out on you or strap you to a lab table or whatever you think I'm going to do to you. I'm actually really proud of you for it. I know, hard to believe that ghost hunting extraordinaire Jack Fenton would be proud of his ghostly son" he chuckled slightly "but I am. Because you're still my son, whether you're human, ghost, or something in between. You're still my son and I still love you. And even more, you're my son that's a bona fide super hero! You save the town on a daily basis and now you're helpin' save the whole world! How could a man not be proud of that?!

"So can we…can we just put this whole fear of rejection thing behind us and just…go back to the way things used to be before everything? Back to when you didn't think I'd hurt you or shun you just because something happened? Back to when you'd come to me with a problem, no matter how big or small, and ask for my help or advice or for just a shoulder to cry on? Back to when you actually trusted me? Because I really want that back, more than anything. I want to be able to help you with whatever's bothering you, even if it's some ghost you just can't shake. I want you to think you can come to me for anything and not be afraid that I'll not understand.

"So whaddaya say Danny? Can we just go back to acting the way things were before all this ghost stuff and just be a ghost-powered son and his supportive dad?"

"Affirmative, Father."

He nodded, looking strangely forlorn despite his son's agreeing to something he'd wanted so badly for so long. It should have made him happy, should have filled his heart with more elation than he thought possible and brought his signature grin to his face to finally get it all off his chest and come clean, but still it felt empty: empty like the passenger seat beside him.

He sighed, looking dejectedly at the robot in the seat next to him. "Now if only I could tell the real Danny that…"

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Hehe, I told you it was short... I really didn't intend for it to be this short but...kinda hard to carry on a one-person conversation without sounding too repetitive... It's not really an idea meant for a long chapter...at least that's my opinion and I'm sticking by it. Besides, I can't always post seventeen page chapters...right?

So anyways, I hope you all liked it and I hope it made you go "Aww" at some point or another. It wasn't really the cry/sob angst that I usually do but kinda the cute saddening angst, so I hope it's still good. I also hope it got you thinking about that scene in Phantom Planet more closely (yes, that's the scene in the helicopter if I didn't really make it clear enough...). I've had this idea actually since I finished watching that episode since I always thought it was ridiculous that Jack couldn't tell the robot was his son, so here's just a little twist on it XD I've always been one to think that Jack's a little smarter than everyone gives him credit for so here's my tribute to that.

Alright, enough rambling! Here's to angst! Especially in the DP Phandom!

DP Angst!


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